Houston’s Oldest Hotel Celebrates its Post Harvey Rebirth With an Art Party for the Ages

Dallas Collector Behind the Hotel Brings Out the Texas Art Stars

By Matthew Ramirez & Catherine D. Anspon // Oct 30, 2019

Photography Dave Rossman

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Jay Shinn, Allison Hunter, Brandon Zech at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Tommy Fitzpatrick & Lauren Riojas Fitzpatrick, Tim Hurst at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Annette Lawrence, Randy Twaddle at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Rachel Rogerson, Lucas Martell at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Rebekah Johnson, Christina Brungardt at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Adam Neese, Mina Gaber at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Allison Hunter, Rusty Scruby at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Andy Canales, Liz Trosper, Sharon Neel-Bagley & Matt Bagley at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Ben Whistler, Frank X. Tolbert 2 at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

David Cadwallader, Cris Worley & Erick Swenson, Holly Johnson at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Bill McDugald, Alison de Lima Greene at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Cliff Helmcamp & Jerry Jeanmard at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Sam Jones, Elaine Gentry at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Randy Twaddle, Tom Orr, Jay Shinn at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Bill McDugald, Ann Stautberg & Frank X. Tolbert 2 at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Frances Bagley, Julie England at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Linnea Glatt, Ellen Frances Tuchman at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Randy Twaddle, Rebekah Johnson at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Terrell James, Jim Cinquemani at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

Mary Vernon, Camilla Cowan, Susan Kaiser at The Lancaster Hotel's One-Year Anniversary Artist Party (Photo by Dave Rossman)

The Lancaster Hotel — Houston’s oldest operating hotel and a pedigreed Theater District destination going back to the 1920s — marked the first anniversary of its post-Harvey rebirth as a Texas art hotel in classic style. The hotel group’s principal partner, Dallas-based artist/collector/patron Jay Shinn of Magnolia Lodging, hosted the evening, which toasted 30 talents (of the more than 100 artists total on view) whose works grace the Lancaster’s lobby, restaurant and rooms.

Catered by the hotel’s signature dining destination Cultivated F+B, the cocktail bash – informed by clever touches such as light bites served on painters’ palettes – brought together artists and their gallerists from Dallas and Houston to showcase and toast the hotel collection curated by Shinn.

(See Shinn and partner Tim Hurst’s own art holdings in their Dallas high-rise here.)

The night wrapped with an art tour personally led by Shinn, whose own light-based work is a touchstone of the collection.

PC Seen: Houston art stars Terrell James, Allison Hunter, Ann Stautberg and Frank X. Tolbert 2, and Randy Twaddle with Rebekah Johnson; Glasstire publisher Brandon Zech; Bill McDugald; Cliff Helmcamp and Jerry Jeanmard; Dallas talents including the Whitney Biennial-exhibited Annette Lawrence, Ellen Frances Tuchman, power couple Frances Bagley and Tom Orr, Linnea Glatt, Rusty Scruby, Lucas Martell, Julie England, man of metal Jim Cinquemani, and Tommy Fitzpatrick with wife Lauren Riojas Fitzpatrick; Dallas gallerists Barry Whistler, Cris Worley, Holly Johnson, Jordan Roth, and Susan Roth Romans; also in from Dallas, Shinn’s partner and dedicated collector and art supporter Tim Hurst, hotel designer David Cadwallader, and The MAC director Rachel Rogerson; and Houston museum types including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston curator of modern and contemporary art Alison de Lima Greene and Contemporary Arts Museum Houston interim director Christina Brungardt.